Duḥsaha Graha: The Afflicting Children of Duḥsaha
A graha in this sense is a being that “seizes” or troubles people. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa describes the sixteen children of Duḥsaha and his wife Nirmārṣṭi: eight sons and eight daughters. Each of them troubles human beings in a particular way.
Nirmārṣṭi was born of Yama to a woman who had looked upon a caṇḍāla (a person regarded in the dharmaśāstra texts as a source of ritual impurity). This gives her line a mixed nature, part divine and part impure. For each kind of trouble, the Purāṇa gives a particular remedy for protection. This knowledge belongs to the ancient tradition of rakṣā-karma, the sacred practices of protection.
Lineage
Duḥsaha married Nirmārṣṭi, a woman of remarkable and troubling birth. She was born of Yama to a woman who had looked upon a caṇḍāla. That look, a contact that the dharmaśāstra regards as a source of serious ritual impurity, shaped the nature of the child born of that union. So Nirmārṣṭi carried in her birth both dharma (through her father, Yama) and adharma (through the impurity of her mother’s circumstance).
From her union with Duḥsaha came sixteen children, eight sons and eight daughters. Each has a particular power to trouble human beings across the whole range of life: body, mind, home and moral conduct.
The Eight Sons
Each son stands for a particular kind of trouble, aimed mainly at the body, speech, mind, livelihood or the continuation of life:
| Name | The trouble he causes |
|---|---|
| Dantākṛṣṭi | Makes infants grind their teeth |
| Tathokti | Leads people into false speech and habitual lying |
| Parivarta | Causes restlessness and constant wavering of the mind |
| Aṅgadhruk | Harms the limbs; causes bodily weakness and decline |
| Śakuni | A trouble in the form of a bird, linked with bad omens |
| Gaṇḍāntarati | Troubles the jaw and cheeks |
| Garbhahā | Destroys the pregnancy (garbha-nāśa) |
| Sasyahā | Destroys crops and farm wealth |
The Eight Daughters
Each daughter troubles the deeper sides of human life: will, relationships, memory, fertility and the bonds of family:
| Name | The trouble she causes |
|---|---|
| Niyojikā | Forces people into tasks against their will; a power of unwanted compulsion |
| Virodhinī | Creates hostility and obstruction between people |
| Svayaṃhārakarī | Leads people to harm themselves |
| Bhrāmaṇī | Causes mental confusion and loss of direction |
| Ṛtuhārikā | Disturbs the ṛtu (menstrual cycle) and fertility |
| Smṛtiharā | Steals memory |
| Bījaharā | Destroys seed and the power to have children |
| Vidveṣiṇī | Creates hatred and distance in relationships |
Remedies for Protection
The Purāṇa does not only name these troubling beings. It also gives the means of protection. The tradition of rakṣā-karma teaches:
- Scattering white mustard seeds (śveta-sarṣapa) around the home drives these beings away and stops them from entering.
- Reciting rakṣoghna mantras, mantras that destroy or drive away rākṣasas and other harmful forces, protects against particular troubles.
- Wearing protective amulets (rakṣā-bandha) guards against the influence of particular members of this line.
- Sprinkling sesame and mustard seeds around a ritual space, especially the place where śrāddha (rites for the ancestors) is performed, is a related protective act. It guards against unwelcome, inauspicious intrusion during the rites for the ancestors.
Sources
- Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 48